A $k$-Winners-Take-All $(k\text{WTA})$ Network with Noise Characteristics Captured
Jiexing Li, Yulin Cao, Zhengtai Xie, Long Mei Jin · IEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica · 2025
Competition-based$k-\mathbf{winners}-\mathbf{take}-\mathbf{all}\ \ (k \mathbf{WTA})$networks play a crucial role in multi-agent systems. However, existing$k \mathbf{WTA}$networks either neglect the impact of noise or only consider simple forms, such as constant noise. In practice, noises often exhibit time-varying and nonlinear characteristics, which can be modeled using nonlinear functions and approximated by high-order polynomials. Such noises pose significant challenges for current$k \mathbf{WTA}$networks, limiting their practical applications. To address this, a$k \mathbf{WTA}$. network with noise characteristics captured$(k \mathbf{WTA}-\mathbf{NCC})$is proposed in this article. Theoretical analyses demonstrate that the residual error of the proposed$k\mathbf{WTA}- \mathbf{NCC}$network converges to zero globally, while simulation results confirm its robustness against polynomial noises. Additionally, a$k \mathbf{WTA}$coordination model is constructed by integrating the proposed network with a consensus estimator to achieve multi-agent tracking tasks. Finally, simulations and physical experiments are conducted further to demonstrate the validity and practicality of the$k$WTA coordination model.